Why the Dovecote?

The dovecote at Die Bos is a Morkel family icon. It was likely a copy of a similar one at Meerlust, with the same configuration of a center dovecote flanked by a side court on either side. The neo-classical centre gable dates it to the early 1800s, the time of Daniel Johannes Morkel (1764 – 1825). Except for Meerlust, there are no dovecotes on other farms at the Cape. It was either a type of “folly” or to provide pigeons for the pot, guano for the farm and feathers for pillows. But perhaps the side courts as arenas for cock fighting was the real reason. Daniel Johannes might have been introduced to the “sport” by his cousin, Phillippus Albertus Myburgh of Meerlust. This is as plausible a reason, as erecting a building to house doves when meat and fish were plentiful. Read the story under “Morkel Family Stories”.